UK Coal doubles production despite Daw Mill delay
UK COAL saw production double in the first quarter of the year and made £10.5m from the sale of land.
Confirming its performance figures from the first three months of 2011, the Doncaster-based firm said new faces at the Kellingley and Thoresby mine were now ready for operation. But the company confirmed it had extended the life of the current panel – or working section – at Daw Mill near Coventry by several months to offset the risk of delay in the installation of its new panel.
The company has also offloaded two major estates in Stockley Hill, Lancashire, and Sandy Lane, Staffordshire, as it disposed of 1,500 acres of agricultural and other land.
UK Coal said at the end of the first quarter net debt stood at £220.7m compared to £242.4m at the end of December.
Executive chairman Jonson Cox, who joined the company in November, recently said the company was guilty of “three years of unacceptable performance in a row”.
The company has begun a cost-cutting which it hopes will cut expenditure by £12m this year.
